Impaction leads students to alternate majors

SF State student and kinesiology major Vincent Castoro, is in his second semester at SF State since transferring from CCSF. Interested in the science of athleticism, Castoro decided to take classes, but has since discovered a lack of options which has forced him to take introduction classes and drop his units to part-time status.Photo by Frank Leal / Xpress

After being denied acceptance to the nursing program, Vincent Castoro thought he could avoid the problems associated with impaction by majoring in kinesiology. He was wrong.

“I was initially going for nursing, but it turned out to be impacted and I didn’t end up getting into the nursing program, so I opted for kinesiology, which I ended up liking more anyway,” he said.

The 24-year-old Daly City native made his way through City College of San Francisco and transferred to SF State in the fall of 2012 as a junior.

He figured since he was transferring into the kinesiology program, a major that, up until now, has escaped impaction, he would have a relatively easy time getting the classes he needed to graduate.

So far his experience has not matched up with his expectations.

“Kinesiology actually isn’t impacted at the moment, but it should be considered impacted because almost every single upper division class was maxed out and there were just as many kids trying to add the class as there were enrolled,” he said. “It’s made it really hard for any students who are trying to get in, to have their needs met in their major.”

When his registration time came around, Castoro found himself competing with seniors for classes he needed to take as prerequisites. Seniors are given priority for upper division courses when it comes to registration and Castoro found himself at the end of the wait list for most of the classes he needed.

“This is my second semester at State as a transfer from a junior college, but I’m needing to get in classes now that open up gates for all of my upper division classes,” he said. “But the two main classes I need have been filled with graduating students who need the class also.”

Unable to get into the courses he needed this semester, Castoro was forced to cut his academic schedule back to part time, which has wiped out any hopes he had for a speedy path to graduation.

“Since I only have one class that I actually need, it’s been a real setback and I’m preparing myself to take on another semester,” he said. “I was hoping to be done by next summer, but it looks like I’m going to have to an extra semester in the fall to finish up.”

The ramifications of this setback go beyond his transcripts though. An extra semester of school means an extra tuition payment, which has caused Castoro to take a second look at how he budgets his money.

“It’s definitely made me have to pay closer attention to my funds for right now. That’s one of the reasons I’m only taking two courses,” he said. “I could have taken all these other courses, but why pay all this extra money for classes that don’t even contribute to your graduation.”

With kinesiology among the majors proposed for impaction in the fall of 2014, Castoro has hopes that he can get back on track.

“I’m all for impaction if it’s going to improve the quality of the program,” he said. “It doesn’t seem fair to me to be admitted into a program and then not have classes available for you. They’re pretty much denying you your graduation, which costs more money. It’s created a lot of problems for a lot of students.”